New Stour & Avon, July 30, 2021
Food & Drink
Cooking... As a child, my sister and I spent a lot of time with my grandma, and she used to take us blackberry picking. I can’t remember where we used to go, and Wimborne has changed so much, so many new houses. My grandma had a circle of friends from the church and there seemed to be an endless supply of cooking apples, runner beans etc. I think there was a sort of free trading thing going on, as my grandma was a really good needlewoman and I think she maybe did repairs, made clothes etc in exchange for produce!! Anyway, back to blackberries! Once we had them back to her flat, she taught us how to make blackberry and apple crumble. An easy dish to make, but lovely to eat, a sort of comfort food, or you can
with Martha Legg constantly reminds us, and is trying to decide between a scooter and a bike for her birthday, although she has told me that she could have both! She loved weighing up the ingredients and then rubbing in the fat to the flour. Then helped to layer the crumble and the fruit.
jazz it up for a dinner party. Now I am a grandma, so I took my granddaughter blackberry picking last year, and the ones that didn’t end up in her mouth were used to make a crumble. She knows that crumble is one of grandad’s favourites, and she wanted to help me make it. She’s nearly three, as she
Ingredients: 6 or 8oz Self Raising Flour (It depends on how much crumble you want, my husband likes a lot of crumble.) 3 or 4oz Margarine 3 or 4oz caster sugar. It’s basically half fat and sugar to flour, so you can make more or less depending on how much you want. I also sprinkle some cinnamon in, to bring out the flavour of the apples. Then rub the fat into flour to
resemble breadcrumbs, stir in the sugar and the cinnamon. It’s difficult to gauge how much fruit, sometimes it depends on how much you have got, or your preference. I peel and chop the apples and leave the blackberries whole. In an oven proof dish, approx. 8 inches round and deep, (up to about 4 inches, but it doesn’t matter if its deeper, but you don’t want the layers of crumble too thin.) I always put a layer of crumble in first and then put in the fruit, then another layer, etc ending up with a crumble layer. Cook in the over on 180 degrees until the top is golden brown, you can serve it with cream, ice cream or custard. Delicious! And grandad loved it!
The Great Dorset Chilli Festival moves to a new venue in the Blackmore Vale The much-loved Great Dorset Chilli Festival takes place on 31 July & 1 August, at the new venue of Stock Gaylard, near Sturminster Newton. The specialist food festival celebrates the world of chilli peppers, from chilli plants and chilli sauces, chilli cheese to chilli chocolate; and includes plenty of food shopping and crafts for family members who might not like the hot stuff. Listen to live music, including the mariachi band, whilst enjoying international street food for lunch, perhaps with a beer, cider or cocktail. Highlights of the festival include the chilli-eating competition which takes place each afternoon, cooking demonstrations and talks, and the chilli cook-off competition which sees teams compete to make the best gallons of chilli. On the Saturday, teams will be asked to cook a “chilli verde”, which is a green pork, chicken or vegetable chilli. On Sunday, teams will be cooking the traditional red chilli. For ticket information please see the website!
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